Custom fit

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With Citigroup’s private bank focusing on ultrawealthy investors, consultationis in and one-size-fits-all is out.

Frecentese: As long as
there are these big macroeconomic issues,
it’s going to be hard to care about
microeconomics
Photographs: Dorothy Hong

Like some fund-of-funds managers, Citi Private Bank has shifted
into consulting mode with its clients, particularly when it
comes to hedge funds.

In Citi’s case, the move away from a
one-size-fits-all, off-the-rack type of offering largely
reflects a change in who its clients are and how it caters to
them. Following the sale of Citi’s Smith Barney
business to Morgan Stanley in 2009, the private
bank’s clients no longer include the so-called
mass affluent. Now Citi’s clients consist almost
exclusively of ultrawealthy individuals and institutions. Since
their net worth and clout can probably gain them access to any
managers they want, what they really need is advice, says
Francis Frecentese, global head of hedge fund investments at
Citi Private Bank.